CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Wine will likely not be an option for Mountaineer football fans this fall.
A bill that would allow for wine sales at NCAA Division I athletic stadiums in West Virginia, meaning Milan Puskar Stadium in Morgantown, failed to make it out of the Senate Finance Committee before a Monday deadline.
Senator Clark Barnes (R-Randolph, 11) opposed adding the bill to the Senate Finance agenda at the last minute. “Procedurally, it was the right thing to do and the reason it was procedurally correct was because we didn’t know enough about the bill,” said Barnes.
“No one had been talking about it. There was no reason to do it and I’m not really sure that the people would support it.”
At this point, barring some last minute action from the state House of Delegates, it looks like the bill will go nowhere in the closing weeks of the 2014 Regular Legislative Session.
Oliver Luck, West Virginia University’s athletic director, requested the bill. It would add to the law that already allows for beer sales at Mountaineer football games. IDs are required for those purchases.
As proposed, the bill would have required licenses to sell wine and those sales would be limited to certain areas at Milan Puskar Stadium.
Last week, members of the Senate Judiciary Committee quickly passed the bill with little discussion.